Disclaimer: I write fanfiction, not famous worldwide best sellers. I am not nor ever will be J.K Rowling. If I was her a certain individual would not be dead (sigh).

Author's Note: Edited by the wonderful Little Miss Fearless. Whoever reviews gets a bar of chocolate from Remus' secret stash. Come on, you know you want some. As always feedback is encouraged. Remember to vote in the poll on my profile. The question is 'What is your favorite HP character?' I will be putting up a new poll soon.


Ch. 7: Expect the Unexpected

Sirius turned over his mattress for the second time. Where was it? He knew he had it on his bedside table. It had to be here. It just had to. His mother would kill him if she found out he lost it.

"What are you looking for, Sirius?" James asked. He was still muddy from Quidditch practice. Practice had definitely become not only bearable, but enjoyable as well.

"I'm looking for my watch. It's been in my family for years. My parents are going to kill me if I don't find it. Pity, it's one of the only family heirlooms I liked," Sirius said miserably.

James looked at the destruction on his side of the room. "You lost a watch that is like decades old?" He frowned.

"Yes, please help me look for it," Sirius begged. He was afraid if his parents found out they might send him to Bellatrix again.

"Don't worry, mate, we'll find it. I need to look for a pair of trainers. My mom told me that they're not in my room, so they must be here," James said. Sirius sighed. He had been looking for the watch for a half an hour.

James and him searched the whole room and finally had to concede that the watch wasn't there, nor were James' trainer. James wasn't fussed about his trainers since his parents could just by him a new pair. He was just irked that it was his favorite pair. Sirius' missing item was irreplaceable.

"What's going on in here?" Remus asked, eyes widening at the sight of their room in shambles.

"We were looking for my sneakers and for Sirius' watch," James explained.

"I thought you left your sneakers at home?" Remus asked him.

"Apparently not," James said.

Remus bit his lip. "I lost something too," he told them.

James looked shocked at this. "Really, what did you lose?" he asked.

"Um, a personal item," Remus said, blushing.

Sirius smirked. "Did somebody steal your rune," he laughed. Remus glared at him. Sirius was never going to get tired of the joke.

"No!" Remus snapped.

"What did you lose?" James asked again.

"I can't tell you," Remus said, going redder.

"Oh, come on, Remus, we won't laugh," Sirius promised.

"Ok, fine. I lost the teddy bear my parents gave me when I was bitten by the werewolf," Remus said. If Remus didn't look so miserable, Sirius would have laughed. He didn't though because Remus was upset enough.

"That one you had hidden in you trunk?" James asked. Remus glared at him. "I only went in there for a piece of chocolate," he defended himself. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Where is all our stuff going?" Sirius asked.

"Why don't we ask Peter when he gets back if he lost anything?" James said. Remus looked at him thoughtfully. He didn't say anything, but helped them look for their stuff. When Peter got back he told them he hadn't lost anything that he knew of, and offered to help them look. Sirius had a feeling that more stuff was going to be taken.


Being that their stuff was going missing, they now locked their room when they left. Remus had the idea to have a password put on the door that only the boys knew. It wasn't much, but it was enough for now. To cheer Remus up they met up with Amber at the Great Hall to do homework. She was in the same Charms class as them. She brought around her Ravenclaw friend.

"Hey, guys, this is my friend, Bonnie Henderson," Amber said, introducing her friend. James was the first to introduce himself.

"I'm James Potter," he said.

Bonnie looked at him skeptically. "Nice to meet you," she said.

"Sirius Black," Sirius said, holding out his hand. She shook it, but he noticed she looked a little nervous. Was he imaging it or was he being paranoid?

"Peter Pettigrew," Peter said. Bonnie seemed hesitant to take his hand.

"Remus Lupin," Remus said politely.

"Pleasure. Amber talks about you four a lot. Especially Remus," Bonnie said, eyeing Remus. He looked a little uncomfortable. Sirius did not imagine it, she didn't like them. For whatever reason, she looked at them like they were disgusting bugs.

"They are the coolest guys, Bonnie. I'm very excited for you all to meet," Amber said, pushing her black hair out of her eyes. Bonnie didn't seem as enthusiastic as Amber about this meeting, but sat down.

"I suppose so, you spend enough time with them," she said with a slight edge to her voice. Remus and James looked at one another. They knew it wasn't going well either.

"Come on, Bonnie. They're really nice," Amber told her. Bonnie wasn't convinced.

"All they do is get detention and pick on that Snape boy. I don't call that nice," she snapped.

"I think they're funny. Plus, Snape picks on them as well. You don't expect them to take that lying down, do you?" Amber retorted.

"I don't know why you want to hang out with Sirius Black of all people," Bonnie snapped.

"What's wrong with me?" Sirius said, standing up and glaring at Amber's friend.

"I've just heard stories about your family that weren't really nice," Bonnie said, folding her arms.

"So that makes me like them?" Sirius sneered.

"No, it's just I heard insanity runs in your family. Your brother was picking on my little sister the other day," she said, glaring at him. This just made him angrier.

"My brother is an idiot, but that doesn't mean I support what he does. I know nothing of what my brother is doing. That's not fair that you don't want Amber to hang out with us over such petty things," Sirius said.

"Whatever! I'll see you back at the common room, Amber," Bonnie said, picking up her stuff. Amber glared at her, but didn't say anything.

"I'm so sorry about that, Sirius. I don't know what came over her," Amber said, upset.

"It's not your fault, Amber. Not everybody is going to like who you like," Remus said, giving her a piece of chocolate.

"How is this suppose to help?" she muttered.

"Chocolate always helps," Remus said sternly.

Amber shook her head and laughed. "You and your chocolate," she said fondly.

Sirius was still thinking about what Bonnie said. He knew his family didn't have a good story, and he didn't want to be associated with them. He also thought back to his time at his cousin's house. If they knew would they think he was crazy, himself? He still winced in pain just thinking about it.

"Are you all right, Sirius?" James asked. He seemed a bit upset that Amber's best friend didn't seem to like him.

"I'm fine," Sirius lied. Crazy or not, he wasn't going to let anyone know that they hurt his feelings. He was a Black after all. Blacks' feelings don't get hurt. He didn't let his crazy cousin get to him and he wasn't going to let some stupid girl get to him either.


The potion bubbling meant that it was indeed ready. It was a good thing that it was only the four of them in their dorm. It was so much easier keeping their secret this way. They hid the potion in the closet and Sirius worked on it. It was time to drink the potion and they would be on their way to becoming Anamagi.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" James asked Sirius.

"Positive. This is the same color as the book. Drinking it is the only thing we have to do now," Sirius said.

Remus looked anxious. "You guys can still turn back, you know," he said.

"Yes, we can, but we're not," James said sternly.

Peter looked reassured by James optimism. "Well, enough stalling, let's do this before I change my mind," he said briskly. Remus got out three cups and put the potion into them.

"One the count of three, we drink," Sirius said.

"One, two, three!" They all gulped down the potion in one swing.

"Eww, that's vile!" James said, making a face. Sirius was trying not to gag, while Peter looked like he was going to be sick. They waited a few minutes for any reaction to the potion.

"See, Moony, no harm done," James said.

Remus looked skeptical. "Well, all right, but it's still illegal. You guys are going to be the death of me, I swear," he said shaking his head.

They got into bed and were all asleep within minutes. Sirius was the first to wake up, followed closely by Peter.

"Wormtail, what happened to your teeth?" Sirius asked while yawning. Peter looked immediately in the mirror and screamed.

"What?" Remus said in a drowsy panic.

"My teeth! Look at my teeth!" Peter whined.

"Oh no, it must have been a reaction to the potion. It said it might do that the first time. It must have happened after we went to sleep." Remus said, looking at Peter's mouth.

"I can't go to class like this!" Peter squeaked.

"We'll just tell McGonagall that you're ill. She never asks if you are in the hospital wing," Sirius said, comforting him.

"It'll go away soon, right?" James said. Sirius let out a laugh when he saw James.

"What?" James asked. Remus was trying to contain himself, as was Peter.

"Look at the mirror," Sirius told him.

James did so. "I HAVE HORNS!" he yelled.

"Just small ones." Remus smirked.

"This is just great. I have horns, Peter has rat teeth, and Sirius got a tail," James said, pouting.

Sirius looked at him. What did he mean by a tail? He turned around and saw it. "Oh no," he groaned.

This was too much for Remus. They had never seen Remus laugh so hard. It took him a moment to contain himself. "Wow! This is the best day of my life. I need a picture for posterity," he said, while opening his trunk.

"Why do you need a picture?" James groaned.

"For blackmail or a laugh every now and then," Remus explained cheekily. Sirius glared at him, making it known I hate you.

"You know what makes me laugh, Remus?" Sirius asked with venom in his voice.

"What?" Remus asked.

"Ancient Runes," Sirius said smartly.

Remus grabbed Peter's pillow and threw it at Sirius. It was worth it to Sirius. Remus said that he was going to tell teachers that they were ill and went to his first class. He said he would bring back their homework.

"How long do you think we'll be like this?" Peter said miserably.

"Hopefully just a day or two," Sirius said, holding his tail. It was really long.

"Hopefully, my hair can't cover this," James said, messing up his hair in a vain attempt to cover his horns. The general consensus that day was that Remus was a prat, which was fully proven when he brought them their stack of homework.


A cloaked figure appeared before the cowering man. The man had many cuts and bruises on his face. The cloaked figure gave off the impression of a snake that could strike at any moment. The cowering man was thankful that the cloaked wizard left his serpent at home.

"You mislead me, Lestrange," a cold voice spat. He was furious that his plan had failed. Lestrange was in no danger, yet.

"I'm sorry, Master. The aurors came and…" the man began.

"I don't want to hear excuses!" the unknown wizard said.

"Master, please!" Lestrange begged.

"No more mess ups… Crucio!" the wizard said. Lestrange let out a scream of pain.

"Send in the werewolf, if you please, Lestrange," the cloaked figure spat. Lestrange backed out of the room quickly and a moment later another figure came in. The man was obviously a werewolf based on his appearance. There was hunger in his eyes.

"Greyback," the wizard greeted.

"My Lord," the werewolf named Greyback answered back respectively.

"I need you to stay in hiding. The aurors know that it's you that have been behind those attacks. You must not get yourself caught," the cold voice said.

"Yes, my Lord. My Lord is pleased to know that my army of werewolves has grown," Greyback said.

"Excellent. Your attacks have been successful then?" his master said. It was clear that he didn't like the werewolf in front of him, but kept him around to do his bidding.

"As always. There was one that got away from me. A tiny boy I attacked years ago. He is still a werewolf, but not in my pack. He was the son of a filthy Mudblood," Greyback said bitterly as if the fact that one of his victims got away from him mortally wounded him.

"No brat of Mudblood gets sympathy from me," the figure before Greyback spat. There was silence for a moment.

"I will let you know when you can proceed with your plan. You may take your leave," the figure said.

Greyback did as his fellows did and promptly left. As his last fellow left, the cloaked figure finally took off his hood. Examining himself in the mirror, he admired his appearance. All the hard work he been doing this past year was going to finally pay off. All he needed to do was to go long enough without the meddlesome headmaster finding out.


Next Chapter: The boys find out where their stuff has been going. Remus makes a startling confession. James is burdened by the strain of keeping a secret from his new friend.